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The London Coliseum, home of English National Opera

English National Opera (ENO) is an opera
company based in London,
England, resident at the London Coliseum in
St.
Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies
in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. All productions are
performed in English, and the company is known for its often
modernised productions and lower ticket prices.

Contents

History

In 1898, Lilian
Baylis presented a series of opera concerts at the Old Vic theatre. Some ten years
later she established a theatre company there, initially performing
'cut-down' versions of Shakespeare's plays. She added a small
group of dancers to the company, Sadler's Wells Theatre opened,
and the Vic-Wells Opera Company was formed. The dancers later
separated from Vic-Wells and became the Royal Ballet.

The company toured while the theatre was closed during the Second World War. It returned as Sadler's
Wells Opera Company, and the theatre re-opened with Benjamin
Britten's Peter Grimes, introducing the first
English opera composer since Purcell to receive international acclaim
(aside from Arthur Sullivan, who wrote the popular
Savoy Operas but only one grand opera).
Boyd Neel conducted the
company from 1944 to 1946. In 1968 Sadler's Wells Opera moved from
Sadler's Wells Theatre to the London Coliseum. Six years later the
company was renamed English National Opera.

The 1980 represented a period of strength for the company, with
Peter Jonas as general director, David Pountney as artistic director, and
Mark Elder as music
director, known as the "Power House" years.[1] In 1984
ENO was the first British opera company to tour the United States since
the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company,
and in 1990 it was the first major foreign opera company to tour
the former Soviet
Union. After acquiring the freehold to the Coliseum, the
company embarked on a four-year restoration programme in 2004.
While the Coliseum was undergoing these changes, ENO temporarily
made its home in the Barbican Centre. Martin Smith, who
became ENO chairman in 2001, was an important financial donor to
the restoration costs.

In the early years of the 21st century, the ENO struggled with
artistic, administrative and financial difficulties. In July 2002,
Nicholas Payne resigned as ENO General Director. His successor was
Sean Doran, whose appointment was controversial because he had no
prior experience of running an opera company. One of Doran's
notable achievements was a performance of Richard Wagner at the Glastonbury
Festival. However, low box-office returns and critical reviews of
the ENO Ring Cycle during the early part of his
tenure contributed to Doran's difficulties.[2] In
December 2003, music director Paul Daniel announced that he would resign
from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005.[3] Towards
the later part of Daniel's tenure, there were reports of clashes
between him and Doran.[4]Oleg Caetani was
announced to succeed Daniel as music director as of January
2006.

On 29 November 2005, Doran resigned as artistic director, during
the first full season that he had programmed as artistic
director.[5] ENO
mounted sixteen productions in its 2005-06 season with a paid
attendance for the year of 216,236.[6]
Although ENO performs all operas in English, in 2005 it introduced
surtitles at the Coliseum. In December
2005, Caetani's appointment as the next ENO Music Director was
cancelled.[7] To
replace Doran, Smith decided to divide the duties between two
people and named Loretta Tomasi as chief executive and John Berry
as artistic director. However, these elevations from within the
organization were also controversial, because these postings were
neither advertised nor cleared at the top level of the Arts
Council. Smith received strong press criticism for this action, and
in December 2005, Smith announced his resignation.[8] Berry
soon received criticism for his decisions regarding singer casting
in ENO productions.[9][10]

In March 2006 ENO announced its next Music Director, Edward Gardner,
as of May 2007, with an initial contract of 3 years.[11][12] Under
Gardner's leadership, the quality of the orchestra and chorus has
stabilised.[13] In
its 2007-08 season, ENO's marketing schemes produced strong growth
in attendance of younger audiences, and overall attendance figures
began to show improvement as the Coliseum played to 85 percent
capacity, a marked improvement.[14] ENO
has reported an improved financial situation, with £5 million in
reserve funds in April 2009.[15]

Repertoire

Over the years the company has developed a reputation for
staging well-known operas in assertively updated productions with
modern or updated costumes and scenery, dividing opinion on the
lines shown in the following correspondence in The Times in July 2002
when Payne resigned as general director:

"Payne's employment of directors who are often seemingly more
concerned to indulge their egos in re-interpreting the operas they
have been invited to direct than in fulfilling the wishes of the
librettist and the composer has been the main reason for falling
attendance at the London Coliseum." (from the music critic Alan Blyth).

The company's repertoire has included two complete stagings of
Wagner's Ring cycle since the 1970s; the regular
indroduction of new operas; revivals of light operas, operettas
(particularly Gilbert and Sullivan) and
musicals; occasional stagings of oratorios in full operatic guise;
and the avoidance of bel canto operas where vocal display
takes precedence over musical and dramatic content.

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Ring
cycle

The Sadlers Wells/ENO Ring cycle of the 1970s was a major
milestone in the company's development. Music director Sir Charles
Mackerras, though a sound Wagnerian, had the vision and
generosity to cede the baton to Reginald Goodall, who had been a
neglected figure on the Covent Garden staff for many years. Goodall
received critical praise for his conducting of these performances,
which helped to rejuvenate his later career.[16] The
cycle had a new translation by Andrew Porter, and designs by Ralph
Koltai which were generally welcomed as striking, while avoiding
what some have seen as the gimmickry of later productions. The
performances were recorded for commercial release on HMV (reissued
by Chandos on CD). The singers included Norman Bailey, Rita Hunter
and Alberto Remedios.

In 2004-05, for the first time in 30 years, Wagner's Ring
returned to the stage in English, coinciding with the company's
30th anniversary as
English National Opera. Following staged concerts over the previous
three seasons,[17] Music
Director Paul Daniel led the company in a new production by
Phyllida Lloyd, designed by Richard Hudson with lighting by Simon Mills, performed in the new
ENO translation by Jeremy Sams. The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie
and Siegfried were all staged in
2004, the Coliseum centenary year, and the production of Twilight
of the Gods completed the new cycle in Spring 2005. The
production was notable for its use of contemporary minimalist sets and
costumes.[18] Some
critics described Lloyd's Cycle as superior to that at the Royal Opera
House, although many others thought it was muddled and that its
"relentlessly trivialising" approach served only to belittle the
work. It was also criticised as being poorly sung and
conducted.

Gilbert and
Sullivan

ENO (and its predecessor, Sadler's Wells) has to date staged six
of the thirteen extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas. To
coincide with the end of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's
monopoly when the copyright lapsed at the end of 1961, Iolanthe was staged. The
production was given as far afield as Belgium and Germany (1962)
and Amsterdam, Vienna and Prague (1965).[19]The Mikado
followed shortly afterwards. Patience was the next addition,
in 1969, and was much revived in London and on tour in the UK and
on the continent. In a second, 1987, production of The
Mikado, directed by Jonathan Miller, the role of the Lord
High Executioner was performed by comedians Eric Idle and Bill Oddie and later by G&S specialist
Richard Suart.
The tenor Bonaventura Bottone performed the
role of Nanki-Poo in 98 performances of the production, in both
London and Venice between 1987 and 2004. This production – set in
the 1930s at an English seaside resort, with black and white sets
and costumes – is regularly revived. A production of Princess Ida
directed by Ken
Russell was a critical and box office failure and ran but
briefly. The Pirates of Penzance
was produced in 2005, but no revival has been announced. A
production of The Gondoliers directed by Martin
Duncan opened in 2006 to friendly reviews.

Home

The Coliseum Theatre, near Trafalgar Square, is one of London's
largest and best-equipped theatres. It opened in 1904, the creation
of the most powerful theatre manager of the day, Oswald Stoll, and the
foremost theatre architect, Frank Matcham. Their ambition was to
build the largest and finest 'People's palace of entertainment' of
its age. English National Opera moved into the theatre in 1968. In
1992, ENO bought the theatre for £12.8 million. The theatre
underwent extensive renovations between 2000 and 2004 and has the
widest proscenium arch in London.

The former Decca
Studios in West Hampstead, now known as Lilian
Baylis House, are used for ENO rehearsals. During the tenure of
English National Opera this building suffered from many years of
neglect and was in a poor state of repair. In 2008 extensive work
was undertaken on the heating and ventilation systems and the
electrical system. Redecoration has also begun.

Education

eno baylis is the education department of ENO.
They involve around 12,000 people every year in a wide range of
projects, events, courses and performances, with a goal of
developing creative responses to opera and music theatre; making
new work with communities and exploring individual creativity as a
means of providing access to ENO's productions; and encouraging
learning and development through participation of artists and
collaboration of resources.

English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, England. The opera house where it performs is called the London Coliseum. It is in St. Martin's Lane, very near Trafalgar Square. It is one of the two big opera companies in London. The other big one is the Royal Opera (ROH), Covent Garden. The English National Opera is different because the operas there are always sung in English. The ticket prices are not quite as high as at the ROH.

History

The beginnings of the ENO go back to 1898 when Lilian Baylis gave a series of opera concerts at the Old Vic theatre. About ten years later she started a theatre company there. She put on Shakespeare's plays in a shortened form. She added a small group of dancers to the company. The Sadler's Wells Theatre opened, and the company were called Vic-Wells Opera Company. The dancers later separated from Vic-Wells and became the Royal Ballet.

The company toured while the theatre was closed during the Second World War. At the end of the war it came back and was called Sadler's Wells Opera Company, and the theatre opened again with a performance of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes. It was the first English opera since the time of Purcell to become internationally famous.
In 1968 Sadler's Wells Opera moved from Sadler's Wells Theatre to the London Coliseum. Six years later the company was renamed English National Opera.

Since then the ENO has put on many great opera productions. For many years the general director was Peter Jonas, the artistic director was David Poutney and the conductor (musical director) was Mark Elder.

In 2004 many improvements were made to the building. While the building was going on the ENO performed in the Barbican Centre.

Although ENO performs all operas in English, in 2005 it introduced surtitles at the Coliseum. This makes it easier for the audience to understand the words being sung.